September 30, 2010; University Park, Pa. — Turns out that Penn State football fans who purchase a ticket to attend the Nittany Lions’ Big Ten Conference clash with the Indiana Hoosiers at FedExField in Landover, Md., on November 20 will be contributing a whole lot more than team spirit and support.

Beginning Friday, October 1, the NFL’s Washington Redskins will generously donate five percent of ticket sales generated for the Penn State vs. Indiana game, up to a maximum of $150,000, to Penn State’s Dance Marathon — THON, the nation’s largest student-run philanthropic event, benefitting The Four Diamonds Fund and pediatric cancer research.
“Penn Staters are second to none when it comes to support of our Nittany Lion teams and support of THON,” said Greg Myford, Associate Athletic Director. “Our hosts at FedExField recognize that and have chosen to support THON and what it represents in a very significant way.”

The donation will be made on all ticket sales to the game, a clear indication that the Penn State faithful are expected to have a major impact on attendance at the game, which ironically is a conference road contest for Coach Paterno’s team. That’s exactly what makes this “Road Trip For The Kids” so meaningful, says Kirsten Kelly, a Penn State senior and the 2011 THON Overall Chairperson.

“Year after year, the entire Penn State campus and community — students, alums, faculty and staff — find new ways to step up and make a difference For The Kids.” We’re so excited and grateful that the Redskins have joined us this year and provided an opportunity for Nittany Lion fans to not only come and enjoy our game at FedExField, but also support THON while doing so. The more blue and white in the stadium on November 20, the more good we’re all doing.”

While the financial benefit to THON from game ticket sales begins October 1, a specific Penn State student sale, which will offer the chance to sit in a designated student section, as well as the option to package a game ticket with round-trip bus transportation, will occur Monday, Oct. 18, at the Bryce Jordan Center. Further details on the student ticket options and student ticket sale can be found at www.GoPSUsports.com/studentcentral.

Originally, this was going to be an every other week type of deal. I’ve decided, based on the response I received after doing the last “best players” post, to make this a weekly feature during the Big Ten season. So, consider the last one to be the preseason poll, and this one to be the one that matters.

After not hearing from him for most of the first three weeks of the season, Evan Royster has had a lot to say over the past few days, about his season so far and about what the team has to do better with the Big Ten season just a few days away from starting.

Here are some of the highlights of his teleconference with the media this morning:

Iowa has been a thorn in Penn State’s side the last two seasons, and part of the reason the Hawkeyes have been so tough to move the ball against for the Nittany Lions’ offense is that they don’t take many chances defensively. “They don’t take risks,” Royster said. “They’re not blitzing a lot.”

Some of the reasons the running game was better last week than it was in the season’s first three weeks, from Royster’s perspective: The offensive line is “starting to come together,” and teams are starting to respect Rob Bolden a bit more. Royster said he hasn’t seen extra defenders moved up into the box quite as often now as he did early in the season.

Royster said Chima Okoli has been taking most of the snaps with the first team at right tackle, but he also mentioned the possibility that DeOn’tae Pannell can possibly take the job. So, it looks like those are the two guys in competition to replace Lou Eliades.

An interesting take on the losses to Iowa the last two years from Royster, who clearly spoke with a lot of frustration about those two games:

“It’s tough losing to a team two years in a row like that,” he said. “It was humbling, and it really hurt our season two years ago. Last year, we had a lot of early momentum going all our way. It was tough to lose the game like that.”

Royster said once the Big Ten schedule comes around, things get especially intense around the team. “We’re playing for our lives,” he said. “We want the Big Ten championship. That’s where we set our goals, and we’re going to have to play well to do that.”

That said, Royster added that he doesn’t know how intense practice will be this week. He expects it will be. But sometimes, if coaches feel they need to dial it back after an especially physical game or a tough week of practice, they will.

“I’m a lot more sore than I have been the last couple of weeks,” Royster said. “Yesterday was a tough practice for me, because I feel beat up.” No need to get concerned, though. Royster said it’s a good soreness, one that comes from getting a lot of work in a game a few days earlier. And it usually goes away before too long. “I can’t even tell you I was sore after the first couple of games,” he said.

Royster expects ball security to be emphasized in practice this week. The Hawkeyes really try to force a lot of turnovers and play the ball very well.

The red zone offense has “definitely been a problem” for Penn State this season, and Royster made no bones about the fact that it needs to get better this week. He figures the coaching staff will throw some new red zone wrinkles in during practice this week.

As he did after the game Saturday, Royster talked about how difficult the first three weeks of the season had been on him. “It kind of helped me realize people aren’t always going to be talking good about you,” he said. “You just have to use it to fuel the fire.” Someone, I forget who off the top of my head, asked what I thought was a terrific question: Royster could have controlled the story a bit by simply dealing with the media after games, and he chose not to. Does he regret that? Royster’s response: “To tell you the truth, I kind of wanted to be with myself, be in my own head and not deal with anything. I helped me.”

Not too much of a shock here, but for his five-field goal performance in Saturday’s win over Temple, your Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week is Collin Wagner.

Wagner leads the Big Ten and is second in the nation in field goals this season. That may frustrate some fans who have expected more out of the offense, but think about it this way: Imagine if the Wagner who was so shaky at times last season was back in 2010. With a pretty young team all around, Penn State needed its kicking game to be solid this season, and Wagner has been better than solid.

All in all, Penn State hasn’t always played great. The action hasn’t always been exciting. The team hasn’t always been awe-inspiring.

But can anybody debat that this hasn’t been one of the most interesting seasons in recent memory for the Nittany Lions?

I think this team has been fascinating to follow at times, what with the true freshman quarterback, Rob Bolden, developing, the offensive line coming into its own, Pete Massaro’s emergence and Jack Crawford’s invisibility at defensive end, the linebackers’ struggles before the second half Saturday, and of course, the Evan Royster issues that kind of sorted themselves out against Temple.

Yesterday’s game, in those regards, kind of had it all. Here are some things to think about with Iowa on the horizon.

Checked the weather report before I left today, and I thought it was supposed to be cool. While it’s certainly not sweltering today at Beaver Stadium, it also isn’t chilly. It’s just a beautiful day.

We’re about an hour from kickoff here. Some things I’m looking for today:

1.) Does Rob Bolden take a step forward? He has thrown some silly interceptions the last two weeks, and as Joe Paterno always says, eventually, freshmen get enough games under their belts to get to the point where they shouldn’t play like freshmen anymore. Certainly, Bolden isn’t at that stage yet. But you’d like to see some positive steps forward heading into Big Ten action.

2.) Line play is going to be big today. Up front, Temple is certainly capable of giving Penn State all it can handle today on both sides of the ball. You’d expect the Penn State defensive line to win its share of battles. The offensive line is going to have to play its best game of the season for the Lions to win, I think. Temple can get after it, and listening to its game on the radio on the way down, so can the front four of Iowa.

3.) Special teams. I’m thinking Penn State makes a huge play in the kicking game today.

4.) Early intensity from Penn State. I don’t think Temple is going to win the game — I actually picked Penn State rather easily, 35-13 — but the Owls are certainly dangerous enough to warrant the Lions’ best effort early. Coming out with that fire is going to be huge for this team today.

5.) Evan Royster. Can he get it going today?

Like I said, kickoff in about 47 minutes now. I’ll be back with updates as often as I can.

UPDATE, 3:21: As always, follow along on the BS&T Twitter feed for more in-depth analysis during the game.

Drum major just drilled the somersault, by the way. That had to feel good.

UPDATE, 3:40: Evan Royster goes 50 yards on the first play of the series, but the drive stalled three plays later. Curious swing pass to Devon Smith on third-and-5 brought out Collin Wagner.

UPDATE, 3:41: Wagner drilled a 45-yarder, and Penn State takes a 3-0 lead.

UPDATE, 3:46: Great opening series for the Penn State defensive line. Ollie Ogbu is shoving guards around, and it was Devon Still who hustled upfield to tackle Joe Jones one yard shy of the first down on 3rd and 12.

UPDATE, 3:53: Paying attention yet? Evan Royster fumbled on the first play of Penn State’s second series, Temple recovered and scored two plays later on a five-yard run by Bernard Pierce. It’s 7-3 Temple.

The last thing — last thing — Penn State could do was give Temple hope early. It has done that and more, though.\

UPDATE, 4:05: The Lions are moving the ball, but they aren’t finishing drives. Two shots at the end zone from the 15 came up empty — neither pass was actually catchable — and the Lions settle for a 32-yard field goal from Wagner. It’s 7-6 Temple with 2:58 to go.

Settling for field goals all day, suffice it to say, is not going to be good enough today. But the way Penn State is moving the ball, they probably won’t have to.

UPDATE, 4:13: Temple is ripping off huge chunks of yardage. Goin no-huddle, James Nixon had a 51-yard run, and Bernard Pierce finished it off with a 4-yard touchdown run.

The extra point attempt was botched, but it’s 13-6 Temple, and it probably will be that way when the first quarter ends.

UPDATE, 4:15: Right now, the problem for Penn State is a simple one: It isn’t tackling. They miss a ton of chances to stop plays early, and the big runs are the result.

In the preseason, Joe Paterno insisted he wasn’t concerned about his inexperienced linebackers, and he got taken at his word because there was certainly talent at the position. But right now, the linebackers are hurting the team. They need to get better.

UPDATE, 4:19: Stephfon Green just got clotheslined.

UPDATE, 4:25: From great challenges, it is said, comes great opportunity. Penn State has the ball on its 1 right now, but a big-time drive could do a lot for this team.

UPDATE, 4:35: Penn State got 3 out of that drive, and they should count themselves lucky. Tahir Whtiehead blitzed unimpeded off left tackle, hit Bolden hard, forced a fumble and Temple should have recovered. The ball rolled out of bounds 19 yards behind the line of scrimmage when nobody picked it up. It killed the Penn State drive, but it really should have been Temple ball.

It’s 13-9 Owls, by the way.

UPDATE, 4:52: That was just a terrible end to the half for the Penn State coaching staff, which is looking lost right now. Nick Sukay got the Lions the ball back with 3:22 left, picking off a Chester Stewart pass. But I just don’t get what Penn State tried to do offensively after that. They ran seven plays, six of which were runs. Which is fine if you’re trying to run the clock down and settle for a field goal. But the Lions also called three timeouts to stop the clock and went for it on fourth-and-1 from the 25 — and Bolden came up short on the sneak.

My question is, even if Bolden does pick up the yard, where are you going if you’re Penn State? There’s less than 50 seconds left, and you’ve used all your timeouts in the last 15 seconds. Realistically, the best you can expect there is a field goal, anyway. To not just take the three points seemed very, very odd.

Anyway, it’s 13-9 Temple at the half.

UPDATE, 5:04: Here are some first-half stats:

Bolden: 9-for-12, 112 yards and no interceptions. But no touchdowns.

Royster: 14 carries, 101 yards. But no touchdowns, and a fumble that set up Temple’s first touchdown.

Green: 5 carries, 4 yards. And a fumble.

Moye: 2 catches, 12 yards.

Also, in fairness to the defense, take away the 51-yard run by James Nixon, and Temple has 44 yards on 12 carries, and just 80 yards overall.

UPDATE, 5:12: Remember, the ball belongs to Temple starting the second half.

UPDATE, 5:20: Temple goes four and out after first down on opening play,a nd PSU has a chance from its own 22.

But third and seven pass to Devon Smith gains just 6.

UPDATE, 5:28: Michael Mauti is having a better second half than he did in the first, but he just got credit for a tackle he shouldn’t have gotten credit for. He forced Chester Stewart inside on third down, but it was Still who made the tackle. Still, Lions needed more out of Mauti and are getting it so far.

UPDATE, 5:44: Another Penn State drive inside the Temple 30. Another drive ended with a field goal. It’s 13-12 after a 32-yarder by Wagner, who tied a career high with four field goals today. Bolden badly overthrew Graham Zug in the end zone on third down.

UPDATE, 5:57: Penn State got the ball on the Temple 12 after a huge interception and 31-yard return for Nate Stupar. But the offense did nothing with it except set up a 21-yard chip shot for Wagner.

It got them the lead. But in many ways, that was the most disappointing moment of the day for the Lions offense.

UPDATE, 6:07: Penn State took over on the Temple 37 after a nice return on a punt by Devon Smith. Not only don’t they find the end zone for the first time today, but Wagner misses a 32-yard field goal. Ouch.

Don’t know what else to say at this point. Temple isn’t playing a great game offensively, and without Bernard Pierce, the offense hasn’t been great. But offensively, Penn State isn’t winning this game.

I’ll say this: This is as sunny a day as you can imagine. I’m thinking about putting my sunglasses on in the press box.

Anyway, will this be as bright a day for Penn State? A buddy of mine told me before the season that he thought the most important game of the season for this team wasn’t going to be the Alabama game. Or the Iowa game. Or the Ohio State game.

It was going to be the Kent State game.

And I at least buy the thinking there.

This is a team that was going to see all its weaknesses exposed against Alabama, and they were. In just about every phase of the game, they need to get at least a little bit better. That makes today’s game the one where you see how they’re going to go about getting better. We’ll see if Penn State makes a concerted effort to develop its running game — against a fairly stout run defense. We’ll see if Rob Bolden makes the same types of mental mistakes that cost him so badly against the Tide. We’ll see if the defensive backs get a little more aggressive going after the ball. We’ll see if the linebackers get a lot more aggressive going after the ballcarrier.

I don’t anticipate it will be very competitive — in fact, the score I picked may have been the biggest blowout I’ve ever predicted for a Penn State game against an FBS school not named Temple — because I think the Lions are in line for a pretty impressive performance today. But all that said, this might be the most interesting nonconference game I can remember covering, at least on paper. This team got beaten up last week, but a lot of people — myself included — walked away from that game thinking this team had something. Maybe, it was the start of something bigger.

UPDATE, 11:55: Drum major stuck the landing but good today, for those wondering.

Also, there are a ton of empty seats here. I’d say maybe up to 20,000. Word is, there’s an accident on Route 322. I also know first hand that a lane of I-80 is shut down for “construction” near Lock Haven. Sat in traffic for 45 minutes today, without sight of a construction vehicle, never mind a construction worker. Now, I know shutting down a lane days before you plan to do any work is a tradition in this state. But if enough people get here around halftime, PennDOT better hire some help to answer the customer complaint lines this week.

UPDATE, 12:13: Rob Bolden’s first career rushing touchdown has made it 7-0 early, with 9:06 left in the first quarter. Penn State ran the ball well on that drive, and it got the ball after an interception by D’Anton Lynn, the first turnover of the season.

So, that couldn’t have gone any better for the Lions.

UPDATE, 12:27: Evan Royster has added a 3-yard touchdown run, capping a drive highlighted by a 55-yard pass from Bolden to Moye on the first play.

The offense has everything working today.

UPDATE, 12:38: If that catch survives the replay, it will be a heck of a play on third-and-10 by Bolden and Moye, who are developing quite a rapport.

And the does stand. Quite a first quarter for the Penn State offense, which is outplaying the defense by a considerable margin today.

UPDATE, 1:19: The second half was not a brilliant one for Penn State, which didn’t score and takes a 14-0 lead into the break.

The running game wasn’t great, and I contend that’s because they didn’t stick with it. Too much shuttling in and out of Evan Royster. Get him in the game, feed him the ball, he’ll be fine. Running the ball is attitude, folks. Penn State’s play-calling is not allowing that attitude to develop on the field.

Defensively, Kent State hasn’t scored. But Penn State is a bit lucky Flashes QB Spencer Keith has been so erratic. His accuracy has not been good today, and he has been picked off twice on poor passes, not stupendous breaks by the Penn State corners.

UPDATE, 2:08: Penn State just took a 17-0 lead on a 27-yard field goal by Collin Wagner. But the story was the drive that led up to the kick.

Eleven of those 17 plays were rushes, which went for 59 yards. That attitude drive I’ve been calling for all day finally arrived. But the two backs carrying the load on that drive: Stephfon Green and Silas Redd. We’re starting to see what Joe Paterno meant by Evan Royster maybe not being the best style of back for the type of run blocking Penn State is getting this season. Green and Redd got the handoff and ran hard.

UPDATE, 2:35: Long touchdown pass on the first play of a drive from Bolden to Devon Smith has made it 24-0. Smith is a pretty good weapon. He totally snuck behind the Kent State secondary and was five yards clear. The ball was actually underthrown by Bolden, but hey, it was good enough.

This is something I’m going to try to do every other week, just for fun. My goal is to kind of track the progress of some players individually this way, and every player — offense, defense, special teams — counts. Don’t be afraid to pass your five along.

Devlin left Penn State before the Rose Bowl in 2008 in search of more guaranteed playing time. He found it at Delaware, but rest assured, the Penn State plan was for him — not Robert Bolden — to be under center in 2010.

One of the commentors on this site mentioned that, if Bolden develops as so many hopes he will, Devlin may have done Penn State a favor by getting out. It’s certainly worth thinking about.

Either way, here’s hoping Devlin recovers quickly. I’ve been critical of his decision to leave — perhaps I’m still buying into patience being a virtue — but the kid loves to play football, and he’s a heck of a quarterback. Hopefully, bad luck won’t halt the pursuit of his dream.

Want bone-crunching hits and breathtaking plays? You've come to the wrong place. Want in depth analysis and breaking news on Penn State football and, occasionally, the rest of the sports world? That, we can help you with. Scranton Times-Tribune columnist and Penn State beat writer Donnie Collins promises to check in with all the breaking news and commentary on the Nittany Lions regularly. So drop by often, on game day or any day, to stay in the know.